In the early morning of December 7, the first wave of aircraft - 183 aircraft, led by an experienced pilot, commander of the Akagi air group Mitsuo Fuchida, roared with a deafening roar from the ships of the formation, located 200 miles north of Oahu. When his planes reached their target, Fuchida radioed “Tora! Torah! Torah!" ("Torah" in Japanese means "tiger"), which meant "surprise attack succeeded!"
Day of Shame
For the United States, World War II began on December 7, 1941. On that Sunday morning, 353 aircraft from the Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carriers struck a massive blow at the American naval base Pearl Harbor, located on the island of Oahu, part of the Hawaiian Islands system.
And a few days before this event, on November 26, 6 Japanese aircraft carriers - a strike force under the command of Vice Admiral Nagumo Tuichi - left Hitokappu Bay and went to sea.
During this passage, the strictest radio silence was observed, and the degree of secrecy of the operation being carried out reached the point that even the garbage accumulated on the ships during the passage was not thrown overboard, as usual, but was kept in bags until returning to the base. As for those ships that remained at the base, they carried out intensive radio traffic, designed to give the enemy the impression that the Japanese fleet did not leave its waters at all.
The Commander of the Imperial Japanese Navy, Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku, was developing the attack on Pearl Harbor, called Hawaiian. He, like many other officers of the Japanese navy, who studied for a long time in England, understood perfectly well that Japan, in the conditions of a protracted war, would not be able to confront Britain and America with their colossal industrial potential for a long time. And therefore, as soon as preparations for war began in the Pacific Ocean, Yamamoto said that the fleet he led was ready to secure a number of victories within six months, but the admiral did not undertake to vouch for the further development of events. Even though Japan possessed the world's largest aircraft carrier, the Shinano, with a total displacement of 72,000 tons - twice that of the American Essexes. However, the General Staff adhered to its point of view, and as a result, Yamamoto, together with the chief of the operational department of the Air Force headquarters, Captain II Rank Minoru Genda, developed a plan according to which almost the entire US Pacific Fleet was to be destroyed in one blow and thereby ensured the landing of Japanese troops on the Philippine Islands. and to the eastern part of Dutch India.
While the strike force was crossing the Pacific Ocean at top speed, diplomatic negotiations in Washington ended in complete failure - if successful, the Japanese ships would have been recalled. Therefore, Yamamoto radioed to the flagship aircraft carrier of the Akagi formation: “Start climbing Mount Niitaka!”, Which meant the final decision to start a war with America.
The carelessness of the American army personnel on these calm islands - too far from here a big war was raging - reached the point where the air defense system was practically inactive. Japanese aircraft from aircraft carriers, however, were discovered by one of the radar stations while approaching Oahu, but the young inexperienced operator, deciding that they were his own, did not transmit any message to the base. Barrage balloons over the fleet parking lot were not displayed, and the location of the ships did not change for so long that Japanese intelligence without much trouble got at its disposal a complete picture of the enemy base. To a certain extent, the Americans, taking into account the shallow depth of the fleet's anchorage, hoped that aircraft torpedoes dropped from enemy aircraft would simply bury themselves in the bottom silt. But the Japanese took this circumstance into account by installing wooden stabilizers on the tail of their torpedoes, which did not allow them to go too deep into the water.
And as a result, during this memorable raid, all 8 American battleships were either sunk or very seriously damaged, 188 aircraft were destroyed and about 3,000 people were killed. The losses of the Japanese themselves were limited to 29 aircraft.
All that could be said about this event was said by the President of the United States Franklin Roosevelt in the first ten seconds of his speech, which took place the next day after the "sudden and deliberate" attack, which went down in US history as a "day of shame."
World War II in the Pacific Ocean (105 photos)
The day before
Despite the long-term practice of building and using aircraft carriers, on the eve of World War II, their combat potential was assigned an exclusively auxiliary role. Representatives of the military command of the leading world powers, for the most part, simply did not believe that these unarmored and practically unarmed ships would be able to withstand armored battleships and heavy cruisers. In addition, it was believed that aircraft carriers were not able to independently defend themselves from attacks by enemy aircraft and submarines, which in turn would entail the need to create significant forces to protect themselves. Nevertheless, 169 aircraft carriers were built during the Second World War.
Counter attack
The shock experienced by the Americans made us think about how necessary it is to raise the spirit of the nation, to do something extraordinary, capable of proving to the whole world that America not only can, but will fight. And such a move was found - it was the decision to strike at the capital of the Japanese Empire - the city of Tokyo.
At the very end of the winter of 1942, 2 B-25 Mitchell army bombers were loaded onto the Hornet aircraft carrier allocated for these purposes, and American naval pilots carried out a series of experiments designed to prove that these heavy 2-engine machines, which were completely not intended for use from aircraft carriers, they will still be able to take off from the deck. After the successful completion of the tests, 16 aircraft of this type were delivered to the Hornet with crews under the general command of Lieutenant Colonel Doolittle. And since these planes were too large to fit in the hangar of an aircraft carrier, they were all left right on the flight deck.
According to the developed plan, the Mitchells were supposed to be released 400 miles from the Japanese coast, and after completing the assignment, they were to return to airfields located in the part of China unoccupied by the Japanese. However, on the morning of April 18, when Japan was still about 700 miles away, the amalgamation of American ships was spotted by many Japanese fishing vessels. And even though all of them were immediately sunk by the planes that attacked them from the aircraft carrier Enterprise accompanying the Hornet, there were well-founded suspicions that one of them had managed to report the presence of the task force by radio. Therefore, the American command decided to launch bombers right at this point, despite the too great distance separating them from the Chinese bases.
Lieutenant Colonel Dolittle took off first. Roaring with engines, the heavy B-25 jumped off and, almost touching the wheels of the landing gear to the crests of the waves, began to slowly gain altitude. After him, the rest took off safely. Shortly after noon, the bombers reached Tokyo. Contrary to fears, the Japanese air defense system was not warned in advance and was unable to provide adequate resistance, and therefore the American aircraft freely conducted all attacks on the intended targets. By the way, the pilots received special instructions not to attack the imperial palace in any way, so as not to make the Japanese emperor a martyr in the eyes of ordinary Japanese and not make them fight for him even more fiercely.
After the end of the raid, the bombers headed for China. One of them landed near Khabarovsk, but none of the American vehicles managed to reach the Chinese bases. Some planes fell into the sea, others were destined to land in Japanese-occupied territories. 64 pilots, including Dolittle, returned to their homeland only after the battles were fought as part of the Chinese partisans.
Royal Games
Most of the air groups of British aircraft carriers were represented by torpedo bombers and reconnaissance aircraft, but there were practically no fighters - the North Atlantic was considered the main alleged theater of operations of the Royal Navy, where neither enemy aircraft carriers nor large coastal bases were located. The hostilities made adjustments to these plans, and in the Mediterranean, British aircraft carriers were forced to provide precisely the air defense of the fleet, protecting it from attacks by German and Italian bombers. I must say that the British back in November 1940 became the first to use aircraft carriers to attack the coastal base of the enemy fleet. It was the Italian base of Taranto. And although the military forces of the British were small - only one aircraft carrier "Illastries" and 21 aircraft, but this was enough to sink one aircraft carrier and damage 2 battleships and 2 cruisers of the Italians.
… On May 18, 1941, the German battleship Bismarck left Gotenhaven (present-day Gdynia) in order to break into the Atlantic for operations against British convoys. British intelligence worked well, and soon the real hunt began. Six days after a short artillery duel, the Bismarck succeeded in sinking the pride of the British navy, the battle cruiser Hood, and escaping pursuit. It became clear that it would not be possible to intercept it with the help of battleships alone, and therefore a decision was made to attract carrier-based aircraft. Already on May 24, nine torpedo bombers and six bombers attacked the Bismarck from the Victories aircraft carrier. At the cost of the loss of two bombers, the British managed to achieve the hit of one torpedo on the starboard side of the battleship, which reduced its speed. The crew of the German battleship, who turned from a hunter into a victim pursued by almost the entire British fleet, was forced to make an attempt to "disguise" their ship as the English battleship Prince of Wales, installing a second fake chimney, but after a short time they had to abandon this venture …
Two days later, another British aircraft carrier, the Arc Royal, began urgent preparations for the departure of a new strike group. On the same day from the "Arc Royal" torpedo bombers "Suordfish" were raised into the air, soon spotting the enemy and going on the attack. True, as it turned out soon, the British cruiser Sheffield was "intercepted", on the way to which part of the torpedoes, barely touching the water, exploded spontaneously, and the Sheffield managed to dodge other deadly attacks …
At about 7 pm the Suordfish took to the air again. But due to bad weather and low clouds, their clear formation was disrupted and yet they managed to find the Bismarck and achieve several hits. The explosion of one of the torpedoes jammed the steering of the German battleship, which made it practically uncontrollable. No British torpedo bombers were shot down during this attack. Outdated biplanes, nicknamed in the Navy because of the huge number of racks and wire ties between the wings of "string bags", had a very low flight speed for that time. The anti-aircraft gunners of the Bismarck simply could not imagine that a torpedo bomber could fly so slowly, and therefore, when firing from the guns, they took too much lead.
… As soon as it became known that the Bismarck had lost control, the ships of the British fleet literally pounced on it - first the battleship was attacked by the destroyers, and the next day it was practically shot by two battleships Rodney and King George V.
Dizzy with success
In the spring of 1942, the Imperial Navy planned an offensive campaign in the Solomon Islands and southeastern New Guinea. Its main target was Port Moresby, a British airbase from which enemy bombers could threaten the advancing Japanese forces. To massively support this operation, an aircraft carrier strike force was concentrated in the Coral Sea under the command of Fleet Vice Admiral Takagi Takeo, which included the heavy aircraft carriers Shokaku and Zuikaku, as well as the light aircraft carrier Shoho. The operation began on May 3 with the capture of Tulagi (a settlement in the southeastern part of the Solomon Islands). And the very next day, a powerful blow was struck at the landing site of the Japanese troops from the American. And nevertheless, on the same day, Japanese transports with an assault force left Rabaul to capture the intended object - the Port Moresby base.
Raised in the early morning of May 7, a large group of Japanese reconnaissance aircraft soon discovered a large enemy aircraft carrier and cruiser, and 78 aircraft were dispatched to attack. The cruiser was sunk and the aircraft carrier was seriously damaged. It seemed that the Japanese had managed to defeat the enemy this time too. But the trouble was that the observer of the reconnaissance aircraft made a mistake, mistaking the tanker-tanker "Neosho" for the enemy aircraft carrier, and the destroyer "Sims" for the cruiser, while the Americans actually managed to find the Japanese aircraft carrier "Shoho", which carried out the near covering the formation and at the same time being a decoy designed to divert a possible strike from the main enemy forces from heavy aircraft carriers. American aircraft carriers flew 90 aircraft, which instantly dealt with their victim. Nevertheless, the main forces of both sides were still not destroyed. Reconnaissance flights that day did not bring any clarity to the situation.
The next morning, reconnaissance aircraft took off again. Petty Officer Kanno Kenzo located the aircraft carriers Yorktown and Lexington and, using the cloud cover as cover, followed them, relaying their whereabouts to the Shokaku. When his plane's fuel began to run low, he turned back, but soon saw Japanese planes heading for the attack site. Kanno, afraid that, despite his detailed reports, the cars might go off course and not detect the enemy, like a true samurai, he decided to show them the way to the enemy, despite the fact that he himself had no fuel left for the return journey …
And soon the Japanese torpedo bombers rushed into the attack, two of their torpedoes hit the left side of the Lexington. Simultaneously with the torpedo bombers, bombers placed one bomb on the deck of the Yorktown and two on the Lexington. The first of them suffered very seriously, taking the blow of a 250-kilogram bomb that pierced 3 decks and caused a fire, but remained afloat, while the Lexington was much worse. Aviation gasoline began to flow from its damaged tanks, its vapors spread throughout all compartments, and soon the ship was shaken by a terrible explosion.
Meanwhile, the Yorktown and Lexington planes had spotted Japanese aircraft carriers. During that attack, Shokaku was seriously injured, as for Zuikaku, it fully lived up to its name - Happy Crane: during the attack, located just a couple of kilometers from the Shokaku, it turned out to be a hidden rain storm and simply did not was noticed …
Frog jumping
During the war, especially in the Pacific Ocean, American carrier-based aircraft more than once took part in the destruction of enemy coastal bases. Especially aircraft carriers proved to be effective during the battles for atolls and small islands using a tactic called "frog jumping". It was based on the overwhelming superiority (5-8 times) in manpower and equipment over the defending troops. Before the direct landing of the troops, the atoll was processed by artillery of support ships and a huge number of bombers. After that, the Japanese garrison was isolated by the Marine Corps, and the landing force was sent to the next island. So the Americans managed to avoid large losses in their own troops.
Collapse of the Great Empire
It seemed that the preponderance of forces was clearly on the side of Japan. But then came the most tragic page in the history of the Japanese navy - the battle for the small Midway Atoll, located northwest of the Hawaiian Islands. In the event of its capture and the creation of a naval base on it, control over a significant part of the Pacific Ocean was transferred to Japan. The main thing was that from it it was possible to carry out the blockade of Pearl Harbor, which continued to be the main base of the American fleet. For the capture of the atoll by Admiral Yamamoto, about 350 ships of all types and more than 1,000 aircraft were assembled. The Japanese fleet was opposed by only 3 aircraft carriers, 8 cruisers and destroyers, and the command was completely confident of success. There was only one "but": the Americans managed to decipher the Japanese codes and the commander of the Pacific Fleet, Admiral Chester Nimitz, knew almost every step of the Japanese. The 16th and 17th Task Forces went to sea under the command of Rear Admirals Spruance and Fletcher.
The operation to capture Midway began with the fact that at dawn on June 4, 1942, 108 aircraft, led by Lieutenant Tomonaga Yoichi from the aircraft carrier "Hiryu", attacked the coastal structures of the atoll. Only 24 fighters flew to intercept them from the island. These were mostly outdated Buffalo aircraft, and there was such a sad joke among American pilots about them: "If you send your pilot into battle on the Buffalo, you can remove him from the lists before he gets off the runway." At the same time, the aircraft remaining on the aircraft carriers were preparing for an attack against enemy ships. True, American aircraft carriers had not yet been discovered at that time, and the Japanese ships were eagerly awaiting messages from reconnaissance aircraft sent out at dawn. And then there was an unforeseen oversight - due to a catapult malfunction, the seventh seaplane from the cruiser "Tone" took off 30 minutes later than the main group.
Returning from the attack on the atoll, Lieutenant Tomonaga conveyed a message about the need for his repeated attack to destroy the surviving enemy base aircraft. An order followed to urgently re-equip Japanese planes ready to strike the ships with high-explosive bombs. The vehicles were hurriedly lowered into the hangars, the deck crews were knocked off their feet, but soon everything was ready for a new departure. And then a seaplane from the cruiser "Tone", the same one that took off half an hour later than the others, discovered the American ships. It was necessary to urgently attack them, and for this - again to remove high-explosive bombs from aircraft and again hang torpedoes. On the decks of aircraft carriers, the rush began again. The removed bombs, for the sake of saving time, were not dropped into the ammunition cellars, but were added right there, on the hangar deck. Meanwhile, the right moment to attack the American ships had already been missed …
As soon as the Americans received a message about the alleged location of the Japanese aircraft carriers, the air groups from the Enterprise and Hornet went to the indicated location, but they did not find anyone there, and nevertheless the search continued. And when they still managed to find them, American torpedo bombers rushed into the attack, which turned out to be suicidal - dozens of Japanese fighters shot them before reaching the target. Only one person from the squadron survived. Soon torpedo bombers from the Enterprise arrived at the scene of the battle. Maneuvering risky among the flaming planes and shrapnel explosions, some planes were still able to drop torpedoes, albeit to no avail. The endless desperate attacks by American aircraft continued to end in complete failure. However, the torpedo bombers of this wave distracted the attention of Japanese fighters.
Meanwhile, on the decks of Japanese aircraft carriers, a huge number of aircraft had accumulated, returning from combat patrols and from attacks on Midway. They hastily refueled and armed themselves for new attacks. Suddenly, dive bombers from the Enterprise and Yorktown emerged from behind the clouds. Most of the Japanese fighters at that moment were below, repelling the attacks of torpedo bombers, and the American dive bombers met practically no resistance. When the attack ended, the Akagi, Kaga and Soryu were engulfed in flames - planes, bombs and torpedoes exploded on their decks, and spilled fuel blazed. The Hiryu, located north of the main group, was still intact, and two waves of planes taking off from it managed to set the Yorktown on fire. Although the Hiryu itself was soon discovered, aircraft from the Enterprise placed 4 bombs on its deck, and it, like the other three aircraft carriers, came to a halt in flames. The attempt to capture Midway failed, and the initiative in the Pacific went completely to the American fleet. This state of affairs remained practically until the end of the war.
By the fall of 1945, 149 aircraft carriers of all types were in service with the world's fleets. Most of them were either scrapped or put into reserve. Soon ships of this type were pushed aside by submarines and rocket ships. Nevertheless, aircraft carriers that took part in all post-war conflicts and wars that took place throughout the twentieth century have proven that they continue to remain an integral part of a strong and efficient fleet of any world power to this day.